Daiwa: “Which "theory" is more complex or implausible - Saddam doing exactly what he had practiced in the past, or a bunch of guys in old beat-up Toyota pickup trucks managing to haul off 300 tons (the number has been reduced by the IAEA, BTW) of high explosives while the US had complete control of the roadways and air surveillance?
This simply isn’t true. I wrote a pretty extensive article on this subject today and posted it in my blog. I will post an excerpt of my article to show you that your assertions are incorrect.
"David Kay, former chief weapons inspector, who spent the better part of 10 years monitoring and dismantling weapons in Iraq, disagrees:
“...We do know that the U.N. certified in early March that the explosives were there. We know that by May, when the 75th Exploitation Task Force went in, they were not there. There's a gap of about three weeks, two and a half weeks, before the war took place until a month after the war took place…”
”I must say, I find it hard to believe that a convoy of 40 to 60 trucks left that facility prior to or during the war, and we didn't spot it on satellite or UAV. That is, because it is the main road to Baghdad from the south, was a road that was constantly under surveillance. I also don't find it hard to believe that looters could carry it off in the dead of night or during the day and not use the road network.”
”I saw many Iraqi facilities in which they came by pickup truck and constantly -- it's amazing to see whole buildings disappear at the hands of looters who are not organized, who do not have heavy equipment. But I also think we ought to put it in perspective. We're talking about 400 tons of high explosives. It would be a great tool in the hands of insurgents and terrorists. But that's a country that is awash with tens of thousands of tons of explosives that have been used now for well over a year against the coalition forces there. “
Who is in a better position to say whether Iraqi's were capable of looting these explosives? David Kay who spent the better part of 10 years in Iraq witnessing Iraqis doing exactly what Rumsfeld says is impossible, a military officer who may never have been in Iraq before in his life prior to the invasion and who didn't know the culture, and didn't have a clue just how capable the Iraqis actually are? I mean no disrespect to the U.S. officer who is making these statements but he doesn't know the country like David Kay and other inspectors who spent YEARS in Iraq.
Anyone interested in reading my article, hop over to my blog whenever you are finished here! Good job, blogic!
